Hockey Player of the Week: Larry Robinson

Holy shit I'm behind. I'm gonna spend my shift working on my b-day to try and catch up on blogposts. Today's Hockey Player is one of the greatest defensemen of all time; if he's not mentioned in the first all-time defensive pair, he's definitely in the second. That's right, he's up there with Orr, Harvey, Lidström, and Bourque. He is the all-time leader in career plus/minus, and a two-time Norris winner. He is:

#19, Larry Robinson



Larry Robinson was best known as Big Bird to his contemporaries - probably because the hair created a fringe similar to the Muppet of the same name. But what is undeniable is that Robinson was one of the greatest hockey players of all time. He was #25 on the Hockey News's list of the top 100 players - but there has never been a better D on Le Club de Hockey Canadien - except for Doug Harvey, of course.

Robinson was also #2 for most of his early career to another very famous defenseman: Bobby Orr. He often finished second in Norris voting to the perennial defense champ (who was arguably the best hockey player of all time). Big Bird outlasted Orr, though. He played 20 seasons and made the playoffs each time - and won six cups as a player. He was also a Conn Smythe winner.

Big Bird was a massive figure on the Montreal blue line - 6'5", and a hugely intimidating physical figure. In the wunderkind Montreal team of the 70s, people knew that if they had to get to Ken Dryden, they had to go through Robinson, a task no hockey player looked forward to.

For his career, Larry was +730, a record that will probably never be broken, due to the sheer dominance of Montreal for those 10 years in the 70s. He was never a minus player, and owned every blue line he was on, no matter who was in front of him - be it Yvan Cournoyer, Jean Beliveau, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, or Wayne Gretzky.

But there's more. Larry has coached in the NHL as well, first for the Kings in the post-Wayne era (they didn't do so hot), and later for the Devils. Robinson coached the Devils to the 2000 Stanley Cup and the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals; he was fired the next year, but came back in time to be assistant to the famous Pat Burns in 2003. He's been a part of the Devils organization a few times since.

He joined the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995, and Larry's #19 was retired by the Habs for his service to the team. He was one of the greatest players we ever had, and we should be lucky to see another man of his stature and statesmanship on Montreal in the future.

Hockey Player of the Week: Rick Nash

This week's hockey player will be the first current player I've profiled. In addition, he's an established superstar, but not because he has always been in the upper echelon of players, but because he has been the only established player at all on a team that has historically struggled. He bore this burden alone until very recently, when a new GM and new coach brought in players and a system that is turning the franchise around. Pound for pound, he's one of the best pure goal scorers out there today and is a power forward through and through. He's been one of Team Canada's most consistent contributors, and I thought he was the best guy at the Olympic camp that just finished. He is:

#61, Rick Nash



Rick Nash is 25 years old. He's only a couple months older than I am. But so far he's had a great NHL career. His first year, as an 18 year old, wasn't as impressive as was hoped, but he won the Rocket Richard Trophy in his second year with 41 goals scored. Since then, Nash battled injuries on a yearly basis, it seemed, but finally had a full season last year, where he again scored 40 goals.

Although Nash has played 441 NHL games, he has managed to score 194 goals - or about a goal ever 2.1 games, which is a pretty impressive rate. Especially when you consider he's never played with a top-flight centre. Columbus has been dedicated to finding someone to centre Nash - that's why they got themselves Kristian Huselius, that's why they rolled the dice on R.J. Umberger, that's why they traded for Antoine Vermette. But more importantly, that's why they drafted Derick Brassard, who has the possibility to be a big, aggressive centre to play with the big, aggressive Nash.

Nash's numbers are even more impressive when you consider that lack of support. His first 4 seasons in the NHL were on teams that were pure garbage. As a result, Nash has been the Blue Jackets' representative at the All Star Game four times, as he's been clearly the best player. Now as the Jackets are finally starting to pick up steam, it is obvious that he won't be alone. Young Steve Mason seems sure to represent the Jackets soon - Brassard and Jakob Voracek and Nikita Filatov are all incredible prospects. Nash finally has a team.



But I'm here to talk about what Nash does when he's on a good team, and not just hope about the future of the man. Rick Nash is one of the best forwards that Canada's ever produced. This has never been more obvious than when he's playing for Team Canada. Excepting the terrible year in Torino, Rick has accumulated 39 points in 27 games for Canada, including 21 goals. The difference, of course, is he plays with a top-flight centre. Guys like Ryan Getzlaf, Derek Roy, Eric Staal, and Sidney Crosby.

This is what has me excited about the upcoming Olympics. We're not sure who's going to play on the right, but Crosby and Nash are guaranteed to play together. They had electric chemistry in the Red-White game on Thursday, and Nash was easily the best skater on the ice. He destroyed Brendan Morrow with a huge hit, just because he's aggressive and strong. I'd love to see him bring that aggression to the ice in Vancouver.

We'll be playing on the small ice, but that hasn't been a disadvantage for Nash in the future. The 2008 Men's World Hockey Championships were held on small ice (for the first time, like, ever), and Rick still marked up 15 points. He's got so much potential, that till recently, hasn't been realized.

Watching Nash tear up the ice with Sid the Kid and another top-flight winger, like Jarome Iginla, Dany Heatley, or Martin St. Louis, is going to be a treat at Vancouver. This guy is electric whenever he wears the maple leaf on his sweater. Not the blue one, the red one, and he should be a dynamo in the 2010 Olympics.

We haven't seen what Rick Nash is truly capable of, yet. But I have a feeling we very soon will.

Hockey Player of the Week: Vladislav Tretiak

This week's Hockey Player was the first non-NHLer to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is one of the winningest players in international hockey, and first came to prominence as a 19 year old in the famous 72 Summit Series. If I had to pick the greatest non-Canadian hockey player, he would be in the top 3; if I had to pick the best Russian or the best non-Canadian goalie, he'd be the clear winner. He retired at 34 after the USSR refused to let him play for Montreal in the NHL. He is the current head of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. He is:

#20 - Vladislav Tretiak



To get things started, yes, that is Phil Esposito being stoned by Tretiak in the Summit Series, Phil "I scored more goals than God" Esposito being stoned by an unknown 19-year old goalie. When the scouts went out to see the Russian's practice, they recorded Tretiak as being average with a weak glove hand. Unfortunately for them, Tretiak had been married the night before and was still feeling the effects of the prodigious amount of vodka he drank.

And this is how Tretiak met the world. His brilliance was deployed in Montreal in Game 1 of the Summit Series. Sure, Espo scored 30 seconds in. But then Tretiak started turning away everything the Canadians had to offer. The Russians won 7-3. Sure, the Canadians won the series in the end, but Vladislav Tretiak had arrived.

Tretiak took the USSR to three golds and one silver in the Olympics during his career, and the silver wasn't his fault, it was the coach's fault. He actually benched Tretiak against the Americans after Tretiak let in one goal. And then history was written by Kurt Russell, or something similar. Tretiak was just as good in World Hockey Championships: 10 golds, 2 silvers, and a bronze. He also brought Russia a gold in the 1981 Canada Cup.

The Red Army team he played for in Moscow was the best team outside of the NHL, and in several exhibitions during the 80s proved they were just as good as any NHL team. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall the NHL has accepted many great players from Russia - Alexander Mogilny, Pavel Bure, Sergei Federov, Nikolai Khabibulan, Andrei Markov, Alex Ovechkin, and more - but although Montreal drafted Tretiak in '83, he was denied permission to go to Canada. He retired from hockey shortly thereafter.



You might think this was the end for a young hockey player. But oh no - the Soviet Union fell, and Tretiak came to North America as a goalie coach. He worked for the Devils and the Blackhawks, and mentored fellows like Martin Brodeur, Ed Belfour and Dominik Hasek. Tretiak, at age 38, was so good in practise that the Blackhawks considered offering him a contract.

Since then, Tretiak has gotten into politics, serving in the Russian Duma, and has founded a Canadian charity to bring Russian and Canadian hockey players closer together. He organized the 2007 Super Series and is known to favour another Summit Series between Canada and Russia's best. His attempts to bring Canada and Russia closer together were rewarded with the Meritorious Service Medal from Canada, the first Russian so honoured.

It's hard to explain how brutally awesome Vladislav Tretiak was as a goalie, so we'll let his stats speak for themselves. In international play, Tretiak had a 1.78 goals against average. That's better than Patrick Roy's career totals. That's better than Marty Brodeur's playoff totals. That's better than...well, any other goalie out there.

Basically, if Tretiak had played in the NHL in the 1970s, whatever team who had him would have won Cups. He was better than the best NHL goalie, Ken Dryden. He was better than Tony Esposito. He was the best goalie anywhere in the 70s. And he is surely one of the greatest hockey players ever to hit the ice.

Hockey Player of the Week: Ray Bourque

For this installment of "Hockey Player of the Week" we shall be focusing on someone who is widely considered to be one of the greatest defensemen who has ever played hockey. He is one of only six NHL players to have his number retired by two teams - Colorado and Boston. He was the heart of the Boston Bruins for 20 years; and they cheered and cried when he won the cup with Colorado in 2001. One of the classiest leaders to ever play hockey:

#77, Raymond Bourque



Ray Bourque was drafted 8th overall in 1979, after such major names as Rob Ramage, Craig Hartsburg, and Keith Brown. He was considered to be a great prospect, but nobody was sure how good he'd be. Bourque won the Calder Trophy in 1980 for best rookie; he won his first of five Norris Trophies in 1987. He became captain of the Bruins in 1985 (co-captain with Rick Middleton until 1988) and led them until his famous trade in 2000.

Ray never had huge, great scoring years like Paul Coffey did, but that didn't stop him from being considered the best defenseman on skates. Ray only had two seasons in the minus end of the plus/minus, both with the flagging Bruins of the late 1990s. He was never a huge goal scorer, not like Coffey; but he did break 30 goals once, and he racked up 410 goals during his career.

Bourque was best known as a passer - he set up 1,169 goals during his time on the ice, second to only Wayne Gretzky when he retired (since surpassed, I think, by Moose and Super Joe). But he was a steadying anchor, who deserved to win it all. That's why when he requested a trade from Boston in 2000, he wasn't seen as a traitor, but as a departing hero, off for his last quest.

Colorado traded for the 39 year-old defenseman, and they didn't win the cup that year. But in 2001, Ray and the Avalanche went to game 7 in the Pepsi Center. Ray was no mere tagalong - in that last season he was +25 and had 59 points. When the final buzzer sounded in game 7, the Avalanche won. Gary Bettman gave Joe Sakic the Stanley Cup, but instead of immediately hoisting it over his head (like every captain had in history), Joe gave it to Ray, who threw it up over his head, victorious, at last.

The conquering hero brought the Cup back to Boston, where the people celebrated his victory as if it were their own. There may never be another Ray Bourque, a man who embodied the goodwill of an entire city, but there will always be his victory - and his #77 hanging from the rafters in Boston.

Hockey Player of the Week: Maurice Richard

Yet another new feature. I've definitely decided I'm going to write one per workday. Because I have fun doing them. This is Hockey Player of the Week, where I will pick one hockey player and extol his virtues (and possibly her virtues, I do have a thing for Hayley Wickenheiser). This is the third of five "of the Week" series.

Up first is possibly the greatest goal scorer to ever play hockey. A Quebecois legend. Numero neuf.

Maurice "The Rocket" Richard!



Richard is the epitome of what being a hockey player is. While he wasn't always the head in the points category, he was always first when it came to toughness, to grit, to heart. Rocket Richard was born and raised in Montreal, and his toughness came from his aptitude in a machinist's shop. During World War II, Richard tried to join the Canadian Army several times, but was rejected due to his lingering knee injury. He tried to become a machinist to help out, but by the time he got his certificate the war was over.

During the war, Richard tried out for le Club de Hockey Canadien - as you can imagine, the NHL was devastated by loss of players to the war effort. Richard made the team, but nobody was very impressed with the young Quebecois. His knee could barely hold up, and he was underpowered. Famous GM Frank Selke tried to trade the "lemon", but was unable to find any biters, and good thing too.

In 1944-45, the Rocket scored 50 goals in 50 games - one per game of the season, a feat unheard of back then, and only matched by two players since. It was a jaw-dropping offensive performance that came from a master in the game. After scoring five goals and three assists, the Rocket was named all three stars in a game. He was unmatched by anyone in ferocity and skill; only Gordie Howe seemed to rival his ability to play hockey.

Richard was tough. He famously stood up to New York Rangers tough guy Hal Dill in a one-on-one fight, KO'ing the much larger American (comically, Dill was played by Sean Avery in the movie The Rocket). During a brawl in Boston, Richard punched out a referee some said was restraining him while a Boston player was able to attack freely, and was suspended. Montreal later broke out into riot for three days (!) when NHL boss Clarence Campbell showed up for the last, Richard-less game of the season. It took a personal plea from the Rocket to calm things.

Seriously, a three day riot about a hockey suspension! Richard was so awesome that all of Quebec was ready to go up in fucking arms because of it. Amazing that he would capture that sort of imagination. Absolutely wonderful to ponder, that much is for sure.



By the end of his career, the Rocket amassed 544 goals and 421 assists for 965 points in 978 games. He had won the Stanley Cup eight times, was captain of the famous team for five years, and captured the imagination of Quebec. In 1995 when the old Forum was closed, all the former captains of Montreal participated in a "Passing of the Torch" ceremony. When it got to the Rocket, the crowd went nuts, for like 15 minutes, cheering and screaming his name. "Rocket! Rocket! Rocket!" Maurice, humble as he was, waved them off for a bit, but in the end simply wept. He was loved for who he was, not just what he had done. He later said that listening to the crowd chant was a trip back to the old days.

The Rocket was a true hero, and the NHL has since named the Rocket Richard Trophy after him for most goals scored in the run of a season. There's no real way to describe him, other than the greatest hockey player of his generation, and one of the best, and classiest, hockey heroes of all time.